PUPILS at a specialist arts and science school have a new creative space thanks to the hard work of a men's group.

Students at Greenfield Community College, in Newton Aycliffe, are delighted with their new Special Educational Needs (SEN) space.

The small room was dark before but that's when Greenfield Arts' Cree Men came up with an idea to transform the space.

A Project developed by Greenfield Arts, the Cree programme offers men creative opportunities to develop positive wellbeing.

It has been running since 2012 and is funded by Public Health.

The 15 members were given the brief of making the creative space more comfortable for students and soon got to work on creative ideas to make the room brighter with everything from installing a new sky light to new furniture by recycling materials.

Students were also involved and created bespoke artwork after working with artist Vicky Holbrough.

The group worked hard throughout the school holidays to transform the space and surprised pupils were delighted when they were invited to an official opening on Monday.

The celebration event brought all those involved back together to see their own masterpiece and after the official ribbon was cut, everyone enjoyed a treat of cake and played games to test out the new space.

The school's director of arts and creativity, Katy Milne, said the space had totally been transformed and she wanted to thank all those involved on behalf of the pupils.

She said: "The Cree men do amazing work on all sorts of projects that help promote positive wellbeing for themselves but also for others.

"The latest project was on a little box room which was quite dark and now they've turned it into a beautiful, creative space with a sky light, carpet and used reclaimed materials such as cable drums - it's been a really clever use of materials.

"They are quite a creative group that are able to problem solve. At Greenfield Arts we look to play and be together and explore ideas and have a try of things so it's great to be inspired by the space."

The pupils, aged 11 to 16, will be able to use the quiet space to "explore their own ideas" as one of the SEN spaces around the school.

She added: "All the children involved came back and were so surprised."

Greenfield Arts, which is based in Newton Aycliffe, offers a wide range of arts and creative opportunities for the whole community. The Cree men meet every Monday at Greenfield Arts from 10.30am to 12:30pm.

For more information email info@greenfield-arts.co.uk